Senators ask chief district judge to consider basing a judge at new courthouse, and to examine whether tax dollars are being appropriately spent on the little used building

NEWPORT NEWS -- Sens. Jim Webb and Mark R. Warner are weighing in on the little-used federal courthouse in Newport News, asking a chief federal judge to "examine the possibility" of having a judge stationed there full-time.

In a joint letter to U.S. District Judge James R. Spencer, the Richmond-based chief judge overseeing the Eastern District of Virginia, Webb and Warner also asked Spencer to review whether tax dollars are being spent wisely on the new West Avenue courthouse.

A recent Daily Press review of the dockets found that the state-of-the-art courthouse -- which is costing federal taxpayers $165,121 a month, or nearly $2 million a year to lease -- sits unused about two-thirds of the time. The building has no resident judges, even as the Peninsula and Middle Peninsula account for 29 percent of federal cases in Hampton Roads.

"While respecting the judiciary's authority over such matters, we request that you review the use of the Newport News court facilities to ensure that tax dollars are being used appropriately," Webb and Warner wrote to Spencer on Tuesday. "Furthermore, we request that you examine the possibility of authorizing a sitting judge to serve the Peninsula Division of the Eastern District."

In the letter, a copy of which the senators sent to the Daily Press, Webb and Warner said they were making the request after being contacted by Newport News Mayor McKinley Price and others "concerning the underutilization of the federal courthouse facilities in Newport News."

The Daily Press found the courthouse gets very little use, apart from seven days a month for misdemeanors on federal property, bankruptcy cases and a grand jury.

For criminal felony and civil matters from the Peninsula, Hampton Road's nine federal judges nearly always stay in Norfolk. Of 213 hearings in criminal felony cases filed in the Peninsula division in the first three months of the year, for example, only eight hearings were in Newport News. The rest -- or 96 percent -- were in Norfolk.

That requires lawyers, witnesses and others to cross the water, with 20-minute hearings sometimes turning into several hours because of traffic. Some attorneys say they won't handle federal cases because of the problem.

Two weeks ago, Spencer told the Daily Press he would not ask a judge to sit full-time in Newport News unless they were appointed from "that side of the water" and "decided to go there" on their own.

He cited a rainwater leak in the building as a primary reason more hearings weren't being held there. But even after the leak is fixed, Spencer said, he would still leave it up to the Norfolk-based judges on whether they go to Newport News for hearings. Spencer did not return a phone call Tuesday.

Despite the request from Webb and Warner, federal judges -- who are appointed for life -- are not typically accountable to the Senate. But the letter from Webb and Warner stopped short of mentioning the main clout senators have regarding the federal judiciary -- their role in the judicial selection process, including a pending appointment in Hampton Roads.

Earlier this year, Webb and Warner jointly recommended Arenda L. Wright Allen, a Norfolk-based assistant federal public defender, to take the seat being vacated by U.S. District Judge Jerome B. Friedman, who is based in Norfolk.

Allen, who would be the first black female district judge in Virginia, now awaits nomination by President Barack Obama, to be followed by a Senate confirmation process.

With Allen's appointment still pending -- and with the senators' support still crucial to that process -- Webb and Warner could conceivably ask Allen to work out of Newport News rather than Norfolk. But the senators have not asked her to do that, asserting that such a request would be inappropriate.

"That would be a matter for the chief judge, not the U.S. Senate," said Kevin Hall, Warner's communications director. Allen did not return a phone call on the matter.

With their letter to Spencer, the senators also forwarded to the judge a Nov. 23 letter they received from Mayor Price, who expressed concern about the courthouse usage and asked the senators to urge more use. The mayor cited a current court rule saying Newport News division cases are to be heard in Newport News.

"With 29 percent of all federal cases in Hampton Roads coming from the Virginia and Middle Peninsulas, it is disappointing that judges are not adhering to this guideline, or taking advantage of our state-of-the-art facility," Price wrote to the senators.

"I hope that you will take these concerns into consideration and encourage increased use of this top-notch facility, and the eventual appointment of a permanent judge to the Newport News Division of the Eastern District of Virginia," the mayor added.

Webb's and Warner's letter followed a call from another lawmaker, U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Newport News, to base at least two federal judges -- a magistrate judge and a district judge -- in Newport News.